If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Actor, Dies at 46

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Actor, Dies at 46

By J. DAVID GOODMANFEB. 2, 2014

The actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his New York apartment on Sunday morning of an apparent drug overdose, according to a law enforcement official who requested anonymity because he was not certain the actor?s family had been informed of the death.

The official said Mr. Hoffman, 46, was found in his West Village apartment around 11:30 a.m. by a friend who had become concerned at not being able to reach Mr. Hoffman.

Investigators found a syringe in his arm and an envelope containing what is believed to be heroin, the official said.

?It?s pretty apparent that it was an overdose,? the official said. ?The syringe was in his arm.?

Mr. Hoffman won the Academy Award for Best Actor his role in the 2005 film ?Capote,? in which he portrayed the writer Truman Capote.

He had undergone treatment for drug addiction in the past, and spoke in interviews about ?falling off the wagon? last year after remaining clean for 23 years.

By around 2 p.m, more than a hundred people had gathered outside the address where the actor was found, in a brick apartment building on Bethune Street. The crowd was growing by the minute.

As people passed, they stopped, snapped photos, held hands and watched. They seemed to be waiting.

?He?s a local. He?s a fixture in this neighborhood,? said Christian McCulloch, 39, who said that he lives nearby. ?You see him with his kids in the coffee shops, he is so sweet. It?s desperately sad.?

At a short distance from the crowd, two men who identified themselves as friends embraced, sobbing.

A woman answering the phone at Mr. Hoffman?s New York production company declined to comment. ?I don?t have a comment at this time on that, thank you,? she said.

Philip Seymour HoffmanPhoto: Getty ImagesOscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead of an apparent drug overdose ?- with a hypodermic needle still stuck in his arm ?- inside a Greenwich Village apartment on Sunday, cops said.A personal assistant found Hoffman in his underwear on a bathroom floor at 35 Bethune St. and called 911 around 11:30 a.m., sources said.

Cops found heroin inside the apartment, where Hoffman ? who has repeatedly struggled with substance abuse ? had been living recently, sources said.

?He was shooting up in the bathroom,? a law-enforcement source said.

The building is less than three blocks from the three-bedroom, 2-1/2-bath apartment on Jane Street that Hoffman, 46, and longtime girlfriend Mimi O?Donnell, a costume designer, bought for $4.4 million in 2008.The couple have three children together.

A relative told The Post: ?We?re just really devastated that this could happen.?

?There had always been a concern with the business he was in,? said Doris Barr, 76, whose son is married to Hoffman?s sister.

?We just worried there was a great opportunity for [drug] issues to come up.?

Barr, who lives in suburban Rochester, N.Y., said son Mark went to middle and high school with Hoffman and his sister, Emily.

?He was an extremely private person,? she said. ?But he was very, very dedicated. This [acting] had been his dream for so many years, and he worked hard to accomplish what he did.?

In a statement released by Hoffman?s manager, Karen Samfilippo, his family called his death?a tragic and sudden loss.?

?We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Phil and appreciate the outpouring of love and support we have received from everyone,? the statement said.

?Please keep Phil in your thoughts and prayers.?

In 2006, Hoffman publicly admitted that he nearly succumbed to substance abuse after graduating from NYU?s drama school, but got sober in rehab.

?It was all that (drugs and alcohol), yeah. It was anything I could get my hands on?.I liked it all,? he told ?60 Minutes? at the time.

Last year, Hoffman reportedly checked himself into rehab again for 10 days after relapsing in 2012.

TMZ said he began using prescription pills, then snorted heroin for about a week before realizing he needed help.

Witnesses said Hoffman appeared ?slightly disheveled and pasty? last month during a party for his movie ?God?s Pocket? at the Sundance Film Fesival in Park City, Utah.

He initially declined interviews while co-stars Christina Hendricks and John Slattery talked to the media, with his reps telling reporters, ?He needed a minute and didn?t feel like coming down yet.? Later, he seemed more relaxed and agreed to do some interviews but would only talk about the movie, before being spotted at another party chatting to Sam Rockwell.

Hoffman had been shooting ?The Hunger Games: Mockingjay ? Part 2? and was in post-production for the Showtime series ?Happyish.?

Just over a week ago, he was spotted in the audience at the Broadway revival of ?Waiting for Godot.?

The ?Mission: Impossible III? star won the Oscar for best actor for his 2005 film ?Capote,? and received three Academy Award nominations as best supporting actor.

In a bizarre twist, just hours before Hoffman?s body was discovered, a satirical Web site posted that the actor had been the subject of an ?internet death hoax? last month.

Mediamass.net ? which claims to be ?an international collective based in China? ? says its celebrity reports are ?a humorous parody of Gossip magazines, all stories are obviously not true.?

I was watching Dr. Drew and he said Hoffman was hooked on prescription pain killers, but couldn't get enough so he started snorting smack, which always leads to injection it.

So many of these types do this; actors, singers; artists, you have to wonder if there's a genetic link between artistic ability and susceptibility to addiction? Seems like no where near as many athletes die this way, but maybe it's just my perception.

t first, I was like damn, that must be some good shit. But, they said there were 4 empty bags next to him! That's friggin crazy! Four bags at once would kill just about anyone.

Plus he had been sober for a couple of decades. I've known so many people over the years that kicked it then when the went back they did so at the same rate that they did in the past and they all bought the farm.

William F. Buckley describes a conservative as, "someone who stands athwart history, yelling Stop." - and then proceeds to drag civilization back to times best left in history's dungheap.

Plus he had been sober for a couple of decades. I've known so many people over the years that kicked it then when the went back they did so at the same rate that they did in the past and they all bought the farm.

I've never seen Heroin and never want to, but I have been around people a couple of times that were on it. One friend of mine was actually working full-time while on it.

Lots of this stuff in South East Asia. Next to a Mexican restaurant I go to the people next door sell Heroin. I never knew it until the owner, who've I've known for a few years told me.

My ex-landlord, a Swiss guy in his late 40s told me he had been on and off of H for years. Then one day, his wife found him on the floor, curled up in a ball, dead.

My 2nd cousin ODed in the US from it. We were not close because we were 2nd cousins that lived far away from each other.

A couple of incidences have happened in South East Asia: young, seeming healthy travelers that are say 19 on gap year to 24 are found dead in their hostel or hotel bed. I am quite sure they bought H and did it, but it's more pure in Asia because it's cut less.

Glad I was never tempted to try it. Highly addictive. It seems like people just don't use it "recreationally."

It's an accurate statement that our current spending will not be increasing the debt We've stopped spending money that we don't have.

-- Jack Lew, then director of the Office of Management and Budget, in Feb. 16, 2011 testimony before the Senate Budget Committee.

I wish i knew where he was getting his dope from. It must've been some good shizzle. What a dumbass! You don't take a dose like that by yourself.

the fucking shit has been making a HUGE comeback in the North East for decades now head to any major city there. What's crazy is unlike in the 60' and 70's it the elites and the wealthy that are all over it today, I don't get it.

William F. Buckley describes a conservative as, "someone who stands athwart history, yelling Stop." - and then proceeds to drag civilization back to times best left in history's dungheap.